Thanks, I had no idea. I have had rhubarb pie, but I didn’t recognize the plant. Are you saying it’s a native of the US northeast? I grew up in PA, pretty much in farm country, but never had any rhubarb until I moved to the pacific northwest.
tromik
1602
Yea, I’m already eating spinach salads and putting it in my omelettes.
Do you par-boil or blanche before sauteing?
Athryn
1603
Nope, just heat up the pan and dump them in, stir until they all wilt.
tromik
1604
Sorry, I meant the collards and kale. Dunno if you were referring to the spinach specifically.
Athryn
1605
Oh! Collard and Kale are usually simmered for a long time, since they’re pretty tough and can be bitter. Traditionally, this is done with a Ham hock tossed in there to combat the bitterness, but I am not sure what you’d do with a special diet.
I’m not a big fan of kale, but my wife wants to eat it because it’s good for us. But I’ll only have it when something that’s less good for us is added. Chorizo sausage!
This Potato Kale Sausage Soup is pretty good.
tromik
1607
I’ll see what he says. Maybe I can cook with it even if I don’t eat it, or maybe I can ask the butcher for some bones and use those or something.
Yea, aside from the low-sodium broth and the kale, I basically can’t eat any of that, unfortunately. Still, maybe I can make a spicy broth and just add lean chicken or something.
So here’s my first serious try at Mexican. I made flautas today, which are deep fried (wheat) tortillas with sort of a stew filling. Served with a chili sauce and avocado. The stew was essentially beans, minced deer meat, salt, pepper, garlic, shallots, coriander, chopped roasted almonds, cheese, and probably some other stuff.
Chili sauce was made of shallots, garlic, a box of chopped tomatoes, couple tbsps of puree, salt, pepper, coriander, chili powder, parsley, white wine vinegar, and brown sugar.
Not as fancy pic this time, but you get the idea.
Also tried them non deep fried, and I probably prefer them that way, as I could taste more of the other ingredients.
Rimbo
1609
I finally got that refried beans recipe right… on the fourth try.
But I don’t think I’ll ever cook it again. It is…unkind to my digestive tract.
I highly approve of interman’s food photography. So does the chef I’m dating, who remarked that food photography is especially difficult and that even some of the food she didn’t like looked good.
Thanks!
Food photography presents a few challenges for sure, but it helps to do some preperations. If I know I’m going to make something worth shooting I’ll keep an eye out on the weather and try to time it so that it’ll be done at a time when I’ll be likely to get good light (don’t want it being too bright). Next you can play around a bit with composition and lighting before actually placing the food. This doesn’t matter so much when you’re shooting something dry, but if you have things like ice cream then you just have to get it right fast, or it’ll get messy. And as with any other form of photography the post processing is important. Like, if I’m shooting something indoors and it’s relatively dark I might bring in some vignetting, but if it’s bright I might add in extra brightness just to get some added luster. Apps like Adobe Lightroom let you do quite a lot without blowing out highlights etc.
tromik
1613
Oooh, nice! I’d have to season with less salt, but maybe I could do vinegar or something.
Regarding greens:
The stems and leaves of beets (which lots of stores near me sell on their own) are really good. What I do is chop the stems into pieces separate from the leaves, fry the stems in olive oil for a bit (since they take more time to cook than the leaves), then throw in coarsely chopped garlic, fry a bit more, add the leaves, fry until they seem right, maybe add a little butter, and a squeeze of lime. Sorry I can’t be more precise than that, but I’ve never really timed it, and it’s pretty hard to mess up as long as you keep nibbling to see if it’s cooked right.
Anyway, it all tastes good, but the garlic pieces… they turn pink, I guess from the juice from the stems, and they get this slightly sweet taste that makes them even better than garlic fried in olive oil (which I love) normally is. It’s really good.
Mexican food adventure part 2!
Yesterday I happened to be in the city where I can get corn flour, so I bought some. They had three levels of coarseness. I figured the medium one would work for tortillas and ultimately nachos, but I was wrong. So, I mixed in a good chunk of wheat flour to get at least SOME gluten strength, and that let me crank out some tortillas.
Cut them into triangles and deep fried them twice - first at about 150c / 300f for about a minute or so, and later at about 170c-180c / 340f-350f, after letting them dry on a piece of cloth for a bit.
Ended up really crunchy, but I didn’t have any avocados left, so tomorrow will be the day when I try making guacamole. Expect a more fun photo then.
Not fancy but…
JAM!
Wild Black Raspberry Jam!!
Rimbo
1618
Steak, rolled in black pepper, spices and breadcrumbs, sautéed, with a rice-wine & shallot reduction sauce.
Rimbo
1619
And but DAMN, interman, you really can make a pretty plate.
I made my first attempt at sushi maki rolls yesterday. I made cucumber, avacado, smoked salmon, and a a couple of rolls using all of the above. I think I didn’t put enough vinegar in the rice. And the rolling worked, but wasn’t very tight. I guess I need to make more so I get practised at using the rolling mat thing.
